Project Background

The Siena Plan for Attracting and Retaining Computer Scientists
(SPARCS) is addressing the goal of producing one million additional
college graduates with STEM degrees over the next
decade, established in the February 2012 report by the President's
Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). SPARCS builds
on the success of the NSF S-STEM Tech Valley Scholars program and
focuses on recruiting and retaining computing majors in high school
and the first two years of college. The program includes a high
school dual enrollment program that introduces computer science
education to Capital District high schools that are currently not
offering it. The program improves computing recruitment by offering
high school students an opportunity to gain exposure to computing so
they might better assess their interest in computing as a college
major. The result is a larger and more qualified computing workforce
in New York State's Capital Region.

SPARCS recruits and nurtures new computing majors through
graduation, with an emphasis on recruiting and retention in high
school and the first two years of college. High school recruiting
focuses on using partnerships to institute an introductory computing
course at schools that do not have computing courses. College level
recruiting focuses on undeclared students in each of Siena's three
schools (Science, Business, and Liberal Arts). Recruitment also
extends to students struggling in their current major who have
demonstrated strong academic potential for computing and may not
have been afforded the opportunity to explore computing. Retention
efforts concentrate on expanding undergraduate internships,
incorporating classroom/lab assistants, and engaging students in
other activities designed to foster a sense of community.

The project is being assessed and evaluated by an external
consultant who has identified the following outcomes as a measure of
the effectiveness of the program: the effectiveness of campaigns to
recruit computing students into Siena, the impact of the SPARCS
program on students staying in computing at Siena, the quality of
student performance in courses and research projects, the number of
students from underrepresented groups, and the number of students
entering graduate school or the professional workforce after
graduation.